Editing Blood on the Tracks (section)

==Background and recording==
At the conclusion of his [[Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour|1974 tour with the Band]], Dylan began a relationship with a Columbia Records employee, Ellen Bernstein, which Dylan biographer [[Clinton Heylin]] has described as the beginning of the end of Dylan's marriage to his wife [[Sara Dylan|Sara]].<ref name=heylin362>{{harvnb|Heylin|2011| pp=362–363}}</ref> In spring 1974, Dylan was in New York for several weeks while he attended art classes with the painter [[Norman Raeben]].<ref name=heylin368>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dd5EmZDdScoC&pg=PA369|pages=368–369|title=Behind the Shades: The 20th Anniversary Edition|author=Clinton Heylin|publisher=Faber & Faber|date= April 1, 2011|isbn=9780571272419}}</ref> Dylan subsequently gave Raeben credit in interviews for transforming his understanding of time, and during the summer of 1974 Dylan began to write a series of songs in a series of three small notebooks<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nodepression.com/bob-dylans-three-blood-on-the-tracks-notebooks-not-just-red/|title = Bob Dylan's Three "Blood on the Tracks" Notebooks: Not Just Red|date = December 31, 2018}}</ref> which used his new knowledge:
 
{{blockquote|[Raeben] taught me how to see ... in a way that allowed me to do consciously what I unconsciously felt&nbsp;... when I started doing it, the first album I made was ''Blood on the Tracks''. Everybody agrees that was pretty different, and what's different about it is there's a code in the lyrics, and also there's no sense of time.<ref name=heylin368/>}}

Dylan subsequently spent time with Bernstein on his farm in Minnesota and there he completed the 17 songs from which ''Blood on the Tracks'' was formed—songs which Heylin has described as "perhaps the finest collection of love songs of the twentieth century, songs filled with the full spectrum of emotions a marriage on the rocks can engender".<ref name=heylin372>{{harvnb|Heylin|2011| p=372}}</ref>

Before recording the songs that would constitute ''Blood on the Tracks'', Dylan previewed them for a number of friends in the music world, including [[David Crosby]], [[Graham Nash]], [[Stephen Stills]], [[Tim Drummond]] and [[Peter Rowan]].<ref name="st-42">{{harvnb|Gill & Odegard|2005|pp=42–44}}</ref> Nash recalled that Stills disliked Dylan's private performance of his new songs; immediately after Dylan left the room, Stills remarked to Nash, "He's a good songwriter&nbsp;... but he's no musician."<ref name="st-42"/>

Initially, Dylan considered recording ''Blood on the Tracks'' with an electric backing group, and contacted [[Mike Bloomfield]] who had played lead guitar on Dylan's ''[[Highway 61 Revisited]]'' album. When the two met, Dylan ran through the songs he was planning to record, but he played them too quickly for Bloomfield to learn.{{sfn|Williamson|2004|pp=111–113}} Bloomfield later recalled the experience: "They all began to sound the same to me; they were all in the same [[key (music)|key]]; they were all long. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life. He was sort of pissed off that I didn't pick it up." In the end, Dylan rejected the idea of recording the album with a band, and instead substituted stripped-down acoustic arrangements for all of his songs.{{sfn|Williamson|2004|pp=111–113}} On August 2, 1974, Dylan signed a contract with [[Columbia Records]]. After releasing his two previous albums, ''[[Planet Waves]]'' and ''[[Before the Flood (album)|Before the Flood]]'', on [[Asylum Records]], Dylan decided his new album would benefit from the commercial muscle of the record label that had made him famous, and his new contract gave him increased control over his own masters.<ref name=Heylin378/>

Dylan commenced recording at [[A & R Recording|A & R Recording Studios]] in New York City on September 16, 1974. Bernstein has stated "the theme of returning ran through the sessions", so "it made a lot of sense to do it at A&R".<ref name=Heylin378>{{harvnb|Heylin|2011| p=378}}</ref> A & R Studios was the former [[Columbia Records#7th Avenue, New York|Columbia Records "Studio A"]], where Dylan had recorded six albums in the 1960s.<ref name=Heylin378/> The musicians quickly realized that Dylan was taking a "spontaneous" approach to recording.{{sfn|Williamson|2004|pp=111–113}} The producer, [[Phil Ramone]], later said that Dylan transitioned from one song to another as if they were part of a medley.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Ramone noted: "Sometimes he will have several bars, and in the next version, he will change his mind about how many bars there should be in between a verse. Or eliminate a verse. Or add a chorus when you don't expect."<ref>{{cite book|last=Rosen|first=Craig|title=The Billboard Book of Number One Albums: The Inside Story Behind Pop Music's Blockbuster Records|publisher=[[Billboard Books]]|location=New York|year=1996|isbn=9780823075867|page=194}}</ref>

[[Eric Weissberg]] and his band, Deliverance, originally recruited as session men, were rejected after two days of recording because they could not keep up with Dylan's pace.{{sfn|Williamson|2004|pp=111–113}} Dylan retained bassist Tony Brown from the band, and soon added [[organ (instrument)|organist]] [[Paul Griffin (musician)|Paul Griffin]] (who had also worked on ''Highway 61 Revisited'' and ''Blonde on Blonde'') and [[steel guitar]]ist [[Buddy Cage]].{{sfn|Williamson|2004|pp=111–113}} After ten days{{sfn|Williamson|2004|pp=111–113}} and four sessions<ref>Bjorner, [http://bjorner.com/74%201-6.htm#_Toc522515522 1974 On the Road Again: Calendar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103084600/http://bjorner.com/74%201-6.htm#_Toc522515522 |date=November 3, 2010 }} Bjorner's As the Years Passed the Door. Retrieved September 3, 2010</ref> with the current lineup, Dylan had finished recording and mixing, and, by November, had cut a [[acetate disc|test pressing]] of the album. Columbia began to prepare to release the album before Christmas.<ref>{{harvnb|Heylin|2011| pp=381}}</ref>

Dylan played the test pressing for his brother, David Zimmerman, who persuaded Dylan the album would not sell because the overall sound was too stark. [[Robert Christgau]] also heard the early version of the album and called it "a sellout to the memory of Dylan's pre-electric period".<ref name="Christgau" /> At his brother's urging, Dylan agreed to re-record five of the album's songs in [[Sound 80]] in [[Minneapolis]], with backing musicians recruited by David. The new takes were accomplished in two days at the end of December 1974. ''Blood on the Tracks'' was released into stores on January 20, 1975.<ref>{{harvnb|Heylin|2011| pp=381–383}}</ref> The version on the original test pressing was given a limited release in 2019 for [[Record Store Day]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/10564 |title=RSD '19 Special Release: Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks -- Original New York Test Pressing |access-date=February 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206154318/https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/10564 |archive-date=February 6, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Outtakes ===
The five New York acetate recordings that were replaced on the official album have been officially released on varied reissues archival releases, but only in 2019 did an official release of the original test pressing get released, as a limited-edition vinyl-only Record Store Day release.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.discogs.com/release/13488951-Bob-Dylan-Blood-On-The-Tracks-Test-Pressing | title=Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks (Test Pressing) | website=[[Discogs]] | date=April 13, 2019 }}</ref> The acetate version of "[[You're a Big Girl Now]]" was released on 1985's ''[[Biograph (album)|Biograph]]''. New York takes of "[[Tangled Up in Blue]]", "[[Idiot Wind]]", and "[[If You See Her, Say Hello]]" were released on ''[[The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991|The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1–3]]'', but these were not the versions on the original test pressing. That collection also includes "Call Letter Blues", an outtake/early version of "[[Meet Me in the Morning]]" with alternate lyrics. "Up to Me", another outtake from these sessions, was also released on 1985's ''[[Biograph (album)|Biograph]]''. An alternate take of the song "[[Shelter from the Storm]]" is featured in the original soundtrack album for ''[[Jerry Maguire]]'' (1996). An alternate take of "[[Meet Me in the Morning]]" was released on the B-side of the Record Store Day 2012 release of "[[Duquesne Whistle]]". The acetate versions of "[[Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts]]", "[[If You See Her, Say Hello]]", and "[[Tangled Up in Blue]]" were not released officially until 2018, when they were released, alongside 70 previously unreleased recordings, on the 6-disc deluxe edition of ''[[The Bootleg Series Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks|More Blood, More Tracks]]'', volume 14 of Dylan's ongoing archival ''Bootleg Series''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bob Dylan / More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol 14 – SuperDeluxeEdition |date=September 20, 2018 |url=http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/bob-dylan-more-blood-more-tracks-the-bootleg-series-vol-14/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920195619/http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/bob-dylan-more-blood-more-tracks-the-bootleg-series-vol-14/ |archive-date=September 20, 2018 |access-date=September 20, 2018}}</ref> Despite featuring multiple versions of nearly every song from the sessions, the actual mix of "[[Idiot Wind]]" found on the test pressing is not in the box set, and was only made available on the aforementioned 2019 reissue.